Leather-cutting knife



(No Model.)

H. GOULD. LEATHER CUTTING KNIFE.

No. 370,736,. Patented se uzv, 1887.

Wi asses:

pieces of leather.

' knife held in the hand of the cutter,who moves the blade of the knifealong the edge of a pat- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOLMAN GOULD, OF BROGKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LEATHER-CUTTING KNIFE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,736, datedSeptember 27, 1887.

Application filed September 11, 1886. Serial No. 213,279. (No model.)

5 new and useful Improvements in Leather-Outting Knives, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to knives for cutting out the parts of uppers ofboots and shoes from These parts are cut by a tern which he holds uponthe leather to be cut.

The knife employed usually for this pup. pose, and known as anextension-blade, is

composed of a blade of indefinite length and a handle containing aportion of said blade and provided with clamping devices .whereby theblade may be held and released, so that it may be drawn out from thehandle from time to time, as wear may require, and firmly secured ineach position to which it may be adjusted, the blade being thus madecapable of use so long as enough of its length remains to 2 5 be graspedby the clamping devices of the handle. The portion of the blade thatprojects outside of the handle has to besharpened from time to time. I

Heretofore the blade has usually been made 0 with both edges blunt, sothat it has been necessary for the operator to spend considerable timein grinding the cutting portion of the blade whenever it is moved out tocompensate for wear, and the time thus spent is in a large 3 5 factory aserious item of-expense. In some cases, however, the blade has beenbeveled along its entire length to sharpen one edge, each side of theblade being made flat, so that the blade is wedgeshaped incross-section.

0 My invention has for its object to lessen the time required to keepthe blades of this class in order, and to this end it consists in theimprovements hereinafter described and set forth.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a 5 part of this specification,Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the blade-blank in itsoriginal form. Fig. 2 represents a similar view of the blade asimproved. Figs. 3 and 4 represent sections on lines a; m and y 3 Fig.

.2. Fig. 5 represents the improved blade as prepared for use. Fig. 5represents a blade of double the length of any of the other blades.

Fig. 6 represents a transverse section of a modification. Fig. 7represents a longitudinal section of my improved blade and its handle.Fig. 8 represents a section on line 00' m, Fig. 7.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

In thedrawings, a represents the extension cutting-blade, the same beingformed from a blank, a, cut from a sheet of steel, said blank being ofuniform width from end to end and of uniform thickness from edge toedge, as shown in Fig. 1. The cutting portion of the blade is at oneend, which is ground away to form the cutting-edge from 2 to 3, saidedge being usually diagonal to the length of the blade, as shown in Fig.5.

In carrying out my invention I provide a blade, a, which is groundpractically to an edge along its entire length by concaving one or bothsides, so as to leave one edge thick and bring the other to acutting-edge, or nearly so. It will be seen that the blade thus formedcan be sharpened at its cutting end much more may be done by the usualmethods and appliances knownto edge-tool manufacturers, and constitutinga part of the process of manufacturing. The blade can be done veryrapidly and at much less expenditure of time than would be required ifthe entire original thickness of the blade had to be ground away atevery sharpening of the blade.

7 If desired, the blade can be sharpened at both edges, as shown in Fig.6.

It will be seen that by concaving the blade more metal is removedtherefrom midway between its edges than by simply beveling, so that theoperation of grinding involves less labor when the blade is concavedthan when it is wedge-shaped in cross-section, particularly when thecutting portion of the blade is diagonal.

The blade, when in use, is held in two grooved jaws, j j, which arecontained in a rco The jaws j 9' have wedge-shaped protuberances 0 0near their outer ends, which, when the jaws are drawn into the handle 70by the rotation of the nut m, are caused to bear on the end of thehandle, the jaws being thereby pressed toward each other and caused tograsp or clasp the portion of the blade between them.

It will be seen that the blade is protected by the jaws and handle untilit is drawn out for use.

I prefer to make the blade of double the length that is required by asingle blade and point it at both ends, as shown in Fig. 5", so that theoperator can provide himself with two blades by breaking one of the longblades at the middle of its length.

I elaim-- As an improved article of manufacture, an

HOLMAN GOULD.

Witnesses:

CHARLES W. SUMNER, HERBERT H. CHASE.

